Milwaukee Public Theatre

In TCD’s continuing series on the people places and ideas that define our city, we visit six businesses in the Shops of Grand Avenue participating in the “Creativity Works Here” program. This is Part Three. Click here for Part One at VETransfer and Part Two at Art Milwaukee.

 

Who: The Milwaukee Public Theatre fosters creativity in Wisconsin through customized arts-based learning programs for an array of different clientele.

“Everything that we do is determined by the client that we serve” says Kathleen Stacy, Milwaukee Public Theatre’s producer and director. Stacy said the types of clients that MPT serves includes general public, students, community centers and corporations among a variety of groups.

What: Milwaukee Public Theatre’s main goal is to bring the arts to everyone. “We want to make the arts accessible to everybody, regardless of age, income, education and cultural background. To make and use the arts in a very healing, positive, life affirming way…any kind of issue can be addressed through the arts,” said Stacy. For 37 years, Milwaukee Public Theatre has lived this mission statement through original performances, workshops, and residencies.

Where: Prior to moving into the Grand Avenue, the Milwaukee Public Theatre was an outreach company with a small administration office on Kilbourn Avenue that still exists today. Through the “Creativity Works Here” program, the Milwaukee Public Theatre sees great opportunity in the new space.

“We’re looking at this as not only our creative services applied in a business way but as an entrepreneurial opportunity for us to increase earned revenue and be more self supporting,” said Stacy, who plans to achieve that goal by keeping the space open and flexible to create any environment possible for a client.

Why: Milwaukee Public Theatre knows its work is important to those who lack the resources to attend artistic events.  They serve a large audience of public school children whose art education has been slashed during a time of budget reductions.

Stacy is committed to serving the community, citing character building and motor skills as crucial skills one can learn from an arts education. “The arts are what make us human, the arts help us communicate our desires, our needs, our thoughts and ideas in ways that are wholesome and healthy, so we feel that it’s absolutely critical for an individual as part of their education.”

The Milwaukee Public Theatre’s new space is on the first floor of the Plankinton Building in Grand Avenue Mall.

 

 

In a recent podcast, Mark Metcalf spoke with Barbara Leigh from the Milwaukee Public Theatre. Listen here.